OnePlus called the OnePlus 7 series its dexterity. He announced 7 Pro, as if this is a new addition to the lineup - and this is indeed a phone full of new things - but the novelty of the OnePlus strategy is that the company is currently doing accelerated processing of old Apple-esque models as its input. What OnePlus 7 is: OnePlus 6T upgradeable to a Snapdragon 855 processor and a 48-megapixel camera, and nothing more.

I am complaining? Just a little. Before the advent of the OnePlus 7 Pro, the 6T demonstrated the fastest and smoothest operation among all Android devices. It had a reasonable size notch and a thinner display frame than on the iPhone XS Max. But now OnePlus has made these tradeoffs less acceptable by hiding the selfie camera in a mechanical pop-up module, adding a great 90 Hz screen and turning the side panels into pencil lines on the OnePlus 7 Pro. None of the original good in OnePlus 6T has changed in 7, for the better or for the worse, but 7 Pro is always present, ridiculing you with its superiority and accessibility. If you can afford it. In the UK, OnePlus 7 with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage costs 499 pounds sterling, while the same specification in 7 Pro costs 649 pounds sterling.

Outside the OnePlus portfolio, the price of £ 499 has recently become much more competitive. Google Pixel 3A for £ 399 is far behind the 6T, while having a significantly superior camera. Both Black Shark 2 and Razer Phone 2 provide better gaming performance, the latter also has a high-refresh screen, like the new flagship OnePlus. Where does the OnePlus 7 fit into this highly competitive landscape?

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VERGE SCORE

ONEPLUS 7

A GOOD THING

Good ergonomics for a big phone

Butterfly-smooth work

Cute display

Strong battery life

BAD THINGS

No wireless charging or waterproofing

In the face of tough competition from Google Pixel 3A

Mirror finish is a fingerprint nightmare

The impact of the camera is annoyingly noticeable.

Buy for $ 634.00 from OnePlus

In terms of a naive phone buyer, the OnePlus 7 is pretty good. It is cheaper than the most expensive smartphones, but at the same time it looks smooth and looks just as impressive. Of course, I hate a fingerprint magnet, which is the glossy glass back panel of this phone, but this is another quality that it shares with top quality devices. The bottom line is that if I give OnePlus 7 to an uninformed consumer, they will be very pleased with its starting price of 499 pounds sterling (32 999 pounds sterling in India or 559 euros in the EU) or even another 50 pounds with 8 GB. RAM and 256 GB of memory.

This is a classic flagship on budget, which OnePlus is famous for, and to get detailed information about all its intricacies, such as battery life, performance, display quality and ergonomics, I direct you to my review of OnePlus 6T. If you don’t care if this phone is a good one, then it’s so, and since so little has changed since 6T, this review is all you need.

But value is a slippery fish that we all try to catch by making a purchase like a smartphone. To do this, it is not enough just to be good, it should cost money, and this can only be judged in the context of a wider market.

So let's not shy away from the obvious confrontation: is the OnePlus 7 worth compared to the cheaper Google Pixel 3A or 3A XL? The spec will tell you, "damn it, yes”: 7 is one of the most affordable Snapdragon 855 devices, it has at least 2 GB more RAM than Google’s scant 4GB, has a larger 6.41-inch screen, and Pixel is stuck with only 64 GB of memory that does not expand. Fans of two SIM-cards should immediately write off Pixel and find a convenient phone for their cards in the OnePlus phone.

Despite the fact that OnePlus 7 has a redesigned design for 2018, it's Pixel 3A and 3A XL, which look like they were made last year. This speaks of leadership in OnePlus design, as well as the corresponding lack of aesthetics tolerance of Google bezels. If I bought the phone as a gift, I would choose OnePlus 7. But, while shopping for myself, I would choose Pixel 3A XL.

This is not because Pixel is faster. Even the premium Pixel 3 cannot match the smoothly tuned performance of OnePlus. And this is not because the speaker or the display is better - both are good in price and on par with the OnePlus 7 - or even because the Pixel 3A models have headphone jacks. No, friends, this is an almost completely unprecedented Pixel camera. I’m willing to put up with slightly lower performance, shorter panels, and Google’s worst multi-tasking interface to get the best camera ever to hit the market below £ 500. OnePlus uses the extremely popular 48 megapixel sensor